Nostalgia & History > Brand New "4000" Series SD70M's Head West

Here is the first five of UP's 1000 unit order of SD70M's heading west for the very first time.  They're even in numerical order no less!  The date is May 16th of 2000.

1st   Westbound intermodule train ZAPSE-15 pulls into Missouri Valley, Iowa for it's third crew change since leaving Chicago.

2nd  With the Iowa crew changed out and the North Platte crew on the train departs Missouri Valley for the west coast.

3rd   Crossing the Missouri River into Blair, Nebraska.

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Wow!  NIce consist; those units look GOOD!  Bridge shot is A+.

Good thing you had that layover car at Mo Valley...  

Andy

Great shots!  Wish they looked like that today.  Hard to believe they are that old already.

RC Lundgren
Elgin, TX

UP and EMD sure put on a great show getting the first five all together like that for a blast to Portland (if I remember correctly) on their maiden run.   I remember members of Trainorders.com coming alive to announce the move, track their progress and post a lot of great photos to not only celebrate the new model and the one time chance to catch them all together like that but also catch the first units to be wearing the restored wings on the nose.  

Great series and catch!

JG

Question:  These units have the flat radiators.  I have seen other pictures with captions of the slanted radiators calling them SD-70M.  What is the difference between plain SD70 and SD70M ?

tomstp Wrote:

> Question:  These units have the flat radiators. 
> I have seen other pictures with captions of the
> slanted radiators calling them SD-70M.  What is
> the difference between plain SD70 and SD70M ?

The "M" means the unit is equipped with a widenose safety cab - it has nothing to do with the radiators.  Illinois Central, Norfolk Southern, and Conrail (at NS's bidding) bought straight SD70's equipped with the old EMD "spartan cab."

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,5392255,5392258#5392258
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,5313383,5313383#5313383
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,5371887,5371887#5371887

Early "Tier 0" SD70M's had vertical radiator grills on the sides of the hood (the radiator cores themselves are mounted at an angle inside the hood, but this doesn't show on the outside).  In order to comply with Tier 1 emissions requirements, SD70M's built from 2002 onward have redesigned radiators with flared external grills. The model designation did not change.

Two questions:

If my memory serves my correctly one 4014 was renumbered to avoid a conflict with the Big Boy 4014.

Where the crew changes from Chicago to Los Angeles on the UP?

Ed Burns

Evan, thanks for the information.

Fine photo. That Blair Bridge one is hard to get with the vegetation growth since then. Hard to believe the SD70Ms are this old.... Nostalgia board no less.

Awesome catch and shots!

NPEDDIE Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Two questions:
>
> If my memory serves my correctly one 4014 was
> renumbered to avoid a conflict with the Big Boy
> 4014.
>
> Where the crew changes from Chicago to Los Angeles
> on the UP?
>
> Ed Burns

The crew change as follow Clinton, IA, Boone, IA, Fremont, NE, North Platte, NE, Cheyenne, WY, Rawlins, WY, Green River, WY, Ogden,, UT,  Salt Lake City, UT, Milford, UT, Las Vegas,,NV and Yermo, CA,. 

Wow, what a catch!  

- Jeff Carlson

Great photos from an exciting time on the UP, nice work Angus!

Beautiful catches and great times. The SD70Ms are still a pleasure to see today in consists
Brian Stevens

Posted from iPhone

RodneyZona Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The crew change as follow Clinton, IA, Boone, IA,
> Fremont, NE, 

I think they now have the long pool from Clinton to Mo Valley.  Still short pool crews in Boone also.

Andy

I didn't much care for the lightning stripe gimmick and the minimal gray area, but loved the wings. Still, much prefer 'em to the current circus-wagon look. And thanks, FRA, for banning the lower red stripe. Oh, and: a friend who works as a UP hoghead called the SD70Ms "junk." 22 years now--must be about ready for the scrapper. Thanks for sharing!

Nice shots, fine looking power.  I remember seeing them out here in SoCal when they were new.
GK

Evan_Werkema Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> tomstp Wrote:
>
> > Question:  These units have the flat
> radiators. 
> > I have seen other pictures with captions of the
> > slanted radiators calling them SD-70M.  What
> is
> > the difference between plain SD70 and SD70M ?
>
> The "M" means the unit is equipped with a widenose
> safety cab - it has nothing to do with the
> radiators.  Illinois Central, Norfolk Southern,
> and Conrail (at NS's bidding) bought straight
> SD70's equipped with the old EMD "spartan cab."
>
> https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,
> 5392255,5392258#5392258
> https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,
> 5313383,5313383#5313383
> https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11
> ,5371887,5371887#5371887
>
> Early "Tier 0" SD70M's had vertical radiator
> grills on the sides of the hood (the radiator
> cores themselves are mounted at an angle inside
> the hood, but this doesn't show on the outside). 
> In order to comply with Tier 1 emissions
> requirements, SD70M's built from 2002 onward have
> redesigned radiators with flared external grills.
> The model designation did not change.

Why do Norfolk Southern and Illinois Central prefer the old cab?

Why did the FRA ban the lower red stripe?